The inventions discussed in connection with the described embodiments address various deficiencies of the prior art. The present inventions address a gaming system involving interactions between game players. The described embodiments concern Beyblade™ spinning tops as the physical game pieces. The described Beyblade™ spinning top usually includes a device, such as a ripcord, to help a player make the top spin. One or more players may engage in games where one or more players spin two or more tops so that the tops may “battle”, where the player whose top is the last top spinning wins. The “battle” may include the tops colliding one or more times. The tops may have different designs where each design causes a top to respond to collisions in a unique way, thus adding a skill element to choosing opposing tops.
In some of the embodiments, the game may further enhance play by maximizing the frequency of collisions and interactions between actively spinning tops by guiding the tops in a one way flow pattern from the launch openings to the battling or game surfaces. A circular wall at least partially forming a raised perimeter around the battling or game surfaces prevents spinning tops from exiting back out of the battling or game surfaces and instead directing the spinning tops to the middle of the battling or game surfaces where collisions are most likely to occur.
In some embodiments, the game may further use physical game battle arena game apparatus in an integrated multi-environment interactive battle game physical game board, convertible or converting arena, e.g., being turned upside down and used as a stadium for plural or multiple players to spin two or more Beyblade™ tops so that the tops battle within the stadium confines by spinning and knocking into each other until only one top remains spinning.
There are known toy top play pads, toy top entertainment systems, and battle arenas which provide a surface along which toy tops are spun, travel in a specified direction along a rail element, or travel around on a circular platform. It is known to employ a circular arena for providing a surface on which toy tops can spin and possibly interact with one another, or to provide a rail element to guide a toy top along the direction of the rail.
There is a known toy top play pad which employs a circular launch pad and runway pad in juxtaposition with the launch pad as exemplified and disclosed in JP4659153 titled Game Table for a toy top, issued Mar. 27, 2008 to Jenoido Proto Design KK. Toy tops are spun into the circular launch pad where they revolve around the perimeter of the concave launch pad and discharge onto a runway pad in a racing fashion. A guide plate directs the tops only from the launch pad to the running pad where a user can race tops through running grooves and compete for running speeds.
The running grooves are carved into the runway pad and are designed to capture a tip of the toy tops as they enter the runway pad. The running grooves cut into the surface of the runway pad and direct the tops to circle around the perimeter of the play pad. The tip of each toy top comes into point contact with the bottom surface of the running groove to allow the toy top to travels within the running groove and circle the perimeter of the play pad in a racing fashion.
The circular launch pad is only a landing pad for toy tops to be introduced to the play pad before they are captured by the running grooves as the toy tops circle the outer perimeter of the circular launching pad. The toy tops enter the running grooves and are then directed around the runway pad circuit in a racing fashion and never collide in the circular launch pad nor are the runway pads guiding the tops into the middle of the circular launch pad to encourage collisions between the spinning toy tops. There is only an entrance into the runway pad from the circular launching pad, and the guiding plates are configured as such as to only direct tops from the perimeter of the circular launching pad to the running grooves. There is no disclosure for an exit from the runway pad to the circular launching pad for launching tops back onto the circular launch pad to collide with other spinning tops. There are no designated exits at the running pads to redirect spinning tops from the periphery of the circular launching pad, back into the middle of the circular launch pad.
There is also a known toy top entertainment system with interchangeable top components and interchangeable rail arrangements as exemplified and disclosed in WO 2013/016317 A2 Dynamic Entertainment System, published Jan. 31, 2013 to Gaines. The top entertainment system discloses interchangeable tops engaging and riding along interchangeable rail elements to maximize vector velocity in transit along the rail elements. The toy tops are launched onto a flat launch support adjacent a rail element. The tops have a ring with a ring side wall perpendicular with a pivoting axis and capable of engaging a rail side wall of the rail elements of the rail path in rolling line contact to travel along the line of the rail path.
Additionally, there are known transformable play sets which transform from one shape to another to allow a user to play and fantasize about the interchangeability of shapes. Known transformable toys include toys which manually convert from one shape to another such as a car transforming to a plane, etc., or an environmental scene such as a parking garage with ramps for toy cars, transformable to a different environmental scene by triggering a single actuator, or one game surface rotating around to display another game surface.
Significantly, known toy top play pads and arenas do not include or teach an integrated multi-environment interactive battle game physical game board, convertible or converting arena, e.g., being turned upside down and used as a stadium for engaging spinning toy tops in combat where the arena accommodates two players when placed in one orientation and four players after being flipped to another orientation. Plural or multiple players spin two or more Beyblade™ tops so that the tops battle within the stadium confines by spinning and knocking into each other until only one top remains spinning. It is desirable to maximizing the frequency of collisions and interactions between actively spinning tops by guiding the tops in a one way flow pattern from the launch openings to the battling or game surfaces. A circular wall at least partially forming a raised perimeter around the battling or game surfaces prevents spinning tops from exiting back out of the battling or game surfaces and instead directing the spinning tops to the middle of the battling or game surfaces where collisions are most likely to occur.